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Is this also a frum thing?
I heard that it’s only a secular thing, our purpose in Olam Hazeh is to observe the Torah and serve Hashem with love and yiras shamayim.
I just read the OO creed by MO Rabbi Avraham Weiss, and he mentions tikkum olam . Is he using tikkun olam in a different (more traditional) context then?
Thank you
LB, I’m not sure and there are probably people here who know better, but I will tell you what my impression always was:
I thought that it really is a Torah concept (in the paragraph after Aleinu, we say “l’sakein (l’takein) olam b’malchus Shakai…” which means “to fix the world with the Kingdom of Hashem”), but the secular world adopted the concept and gave it a broader, more secular, liberal meaning (and basically changed the meaning) so the Frum world doesn’t usually use the concept since it would be misunderstood according to the Secular Liberal translation.
Note that we talk about: “l’sakein olam b’malchus Shakai”, the world can ONLY be fixed (receive a tikun) through Hashem’s Kingdom, and I think that part is probably left out of the secular interpretation, whereas we would say that it’s the main part.
Regarding Avi Weiss, since he is no longer considered to be Orthodox, his usage of the term is really irrelevant.
in the paragraph after Aleinu, we say “l’sakein (l’takein) olam b’malchus Shakai…” which means “to fix the world with the Kingdom of Hashem
We are asking Hashem to do the fixing, by destroying avodah zarah so that everyone recognizes only Hashem.
Somehow, I don’t think Avi Weiss means that.
DY – you’re right, thanks, we’re asking Hashem to be metaken the world.
Does the term tikun olam (in the context of something we do) appear anywhere in Torah sources? Who made up the term?
DY – thanks, will try to look at it when I have a chance b”n.
Tikkun Olam, literally “fixing the world”, is a term that originates (as far as I’m aware) in the Gemara’s re-telling of the story about how Hillel created the concept of a pruzbul as a “tikkun olam”, so that people would not violate the prohibitions related to Shivyis. Somehow, I doubt that the “tikkun olam” that Weiss is referring to has anything to do with making sure people don’t sin.
(And as a side point, I don’t think it’s accurate to refer to Weiss as an MO Rabbi. Although he does try to claim this title, his beliefs are far out of the pale of Orthodoxy, Modern or not.)
So I finally read the Mishna DY brought above. Completely different meaning in the Mishna. Similar to mw13’s example above.
The mishnah following the one I linked to earlier is here:
http://www.hebrewbooks.org/shas.aspx?mesechta=19&daf=34b&format=pdf
This one mentions pruzbul.
Tikkun olam in the Talmud is a rationale for takanos Chazal. It means to fix a problem in Klal Yisroel or a portion of Klal Yisroel.
Benignuman: “Tikkun olam in the Talmud is a rationale for takanos Chazal. It means to fix a problem in Klal Yisroel or a portion of Klal Yisroel.”
Which means it has nothing to do with contemporary usage. So that’s the answer to the question.
Lilmod,
I think the way they tie it in is by saying “just as Chazal tried to fix social problems in the Jewish community so should we try to fix social problems in the Jewish community and the World.”
Rambam also uses the term tikkun olam to improve or perfect society — here’s Chabad’s translation of Mishneh Torah Rotzeach uShmirat Nefesh – Chapter Two: “When a Jewish king desires to slay any of these murderers and the like – who are not liable for execution by the court – by virtue of his regal authority, in order to perfect society, he has the license.” This is consistent with a general use of the term to mean improve or perfect society.
The problem is not using the term tikkun olam to refer to improving society. The problem is what kind of improvements they have in mind (and the Reform idea that general efforts to reform society are the most important aspect of Judaism).
Sure, helping oppressed orphans and widows and crime victims, stopping human trafficking, giving employment training to unemployed people, etc. are are good things to do under the Torah and they improve society, so we could use the term tikkun olam for them as an informal matter. But of course we should oppose people using that term for promoting causes that are against the Torah, as some non-Orthodox do.
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